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Whopping fine

Rockwell the company that operated the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant
in Colorado, will pay a fine of $18.5 million for illegally storing and
dumping toxic waste. It is the largest penalty ever imposed for violating
laws regulating hazardous waste in the US.

US criminal investigators raided the plant in June, 1989. Millions of
pages of records were impounded, and hundreds of employees were questioned.
Before the raid, FBI agents even flew helicopters with infrared sensors
around the plant at night to gather evidence.

Most of the violations were technical in nature, for instance storing
metals such as cadmium and chromium without proper permits. Barry Hartman,
who is in charge of environmental enforcement at the US Department of Justice,
said that ‘no significant environmental damage’ resulted from Rockwell’s
conduct. Rockwell said that the violations found at its plant could have
been found at ‘any ageing industrial facility’.